01WS6/tamu

iTrader: (37)

Man guys I guess I'm getting old but this modern day parts situation is flat sickening with what stuff costs. I've rebuilt gm stuff my whole life and bought GM parts across the counter for platforms discontinued 20 years prior at reasonable rates. Man back in the old day's circa at least 12-20 years ago when cars got old IE 7-10 year old range parts got cheap and plentiful making them affordable for us common car guys to work on and still be able to eat and keep the lights on. I'm putting my second firebird a 02 back together and I've slowly been collecting perfect low mileage parts and or NOS stuff that has been damm near impossible to find and high as angel ***** when you do find it. But i'm to point where I need some stuff that's just flat stupid ridiculous I priced a few years ago and it was reasonable. So many of the interior parts are just flat damm impossible to find anymore and holy hell are they expensive when you can find them.

What the hell has happened to our hobby man only the rich bastards can do this stuff anymore hardly. Anyhow off my soapbox wrench on F-buds. Just some food for thought if anyone else thinks along the same lines

S2KIWI

It seems like your community is also suffering from 'rarity tax'... these cars are/(maybe more so 'were' after reading your post..) a cost effective performance platform and have been treated as such and used hard.. all the good stuff has gone to collectors and the rest is being picked through by us with a few gems from time to time.

Here the Holden VE/G8 has a certain part that breaks on the seats with larger people. I get so, so many people asking for that part that I'm considering getting it 3d printed or making an aftermarket replacement.. it would be worth while to do it. And that's a part you can only buy from parts cars or as an entire seat. You can't buy it individually.

Just like the TPS on a ZX10R. You have to buy the whole damn fuel rail system for it. 1k for a F*($$@!#$ TPS.

Just like anything for Mk4 supras that's car specific (headers/cosmetics/anything really), or S2000s (yeah the forged rotating assembly costs as much as a damn LS short block and you cannot buy new engines anymore except blueprinted spoon engines).

They both used to be cheaper to find parts for. Same goes for RX7 FD3 (batmobile) and the earlier rotaries. Hell the RX3s were 4-5k when I was growing up and were thrashed around often dime a dozen nearly, now 10x that price is a good starting figure for a tidy one. 323 wagons same thing. Good luck getting 12A rotary housings, you can't buy them new anymore. Just another thing that'll be come rarer and rarer.

If you're trying to restore your car to mint condition, I think your best bet is to literally buy a cheap parts car and screw the middle man...

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I've been in the hobby during the same 12-20 year period, but I remember it differently. Back then, some 7-10 year old NOS parts were often hard to come by/expensive from the dealer as well. For example, stuff like interior or trim parts for my 3rd gen Formula were not often plentiful or particularly cheap from GM back in mid-late '90s either.

Granted, everything has gotten more expensive in the last 20 years but that's relative to inflation in general. I don't recall any time in the last two decades where brand new or NOS parts for an older platform have gotten cheaper when bought over the parts counter from GM.

As for private market/used parts, that's all about supply and demand. If you're looking for items that are commonly worn out and haven't been available new for quite some time, then prices will be high when it's a popular enthusiast platform.

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

lots of ways to get stuff for reasonable prices , between looking for parts here on the forums , craigs list ,ebay , junkyards etc... you can usually find what you need.

Occasionally you have to spend money to get parts cheap... if you need a bunch of stuff , or a complete interior etc.... sometimes you need to buy a car to part out and keep what you need , a wreck , a 6cyl car with good interior/body panels etc...

Example , The staggered c5 wheels on the car in my sig I was having trouble finding decent GM rolling stock bought a clapped out v6 95 Camaro that had the c5 wheels & good tires for $1100 sold the engine out of the Camaro for $300 , the bucket seats and console to a guy building a gaming station for $200 , still have another set of steel wheels I got thrown in with it with studded snows on them , sold the rolling shell to a stock car racer for $400 all to get my vette wheels for about $200 and I still have a bunch of aftermarket stereo stuff from it as well. A lot of effort to some I guess but you have to be willing to work for a deal sometimes , that is the car hobby !

SnIpEz

iTrader: (4)

Considering I just spent over $400 on a set of brand new GM ebony door panels for my '01 SS, I'd have to agree. Hawk's Motorsports is the only company out there beginning to make reproduction interior parts for our 4th gens, though they have a ways to go before I'd call their catalog "expansive". Everything they have made though looks fantastic however, such as OEM replica ebony 6-speed upper consoles, or door panel trim plates, etc. I'd love larger items, and although I doubt we'll see it for many, many years to come, an affordable new dash replacement would be amazing, rather than paying $1,500+ through the stealership...